The Rambler’s Ruby – A Tiki Cocktail

When you hear the word Tiki, you typically think of being served a sweet rum soaked cocktail full of fruit (and we love those!) but as more folks explore the world of Tiki, all kinds of drinks are being created using more than just rum! This has opened up lots of new opportunities for what might be the king of summer spirits, gin! Refreshingly crisp and full of refreshing citrus flavors, gin offers a great flavor canvas to start layering lots of tropical flavors on to create a myriad of Tiki drinks! For the Rambler’s Ruby we combine the herbal citrus of gin with the smokey bite of mezcal to create a delightful spiced sipper that is sure to open your mind up to the world of gin Tiki drinks!

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Gin isn’t your typical spirit you turn to when you think of paradise, but in reality it has long had a history of being found in tropical locales thanks to being required provisions on the ships of the Royal Navy as they headed out on their voyages to far flung corners of the world. Long thought of as part the cure for scurvy and malaria, Royal Navy sailors carried their gin to their port of calls and soon gin was the spirit to turn to in summery weather where it inevitably found its way into cocktails!

We combined the gin with a nice Oaxacan mezcal (Check out another, which adds a hint of campfire smoke and spice to the Rambler’s Ruby. Mezcal and Gin is a fun flavor combination, as the hints of fruit, spice and smoke of the mezcal is brought out by the bright hints of citrus and botanicals from the gin.

No Tiki drink is complete with out some fresh fruit juice, and for this we went with some fresh squeezed Ruby Red grapefruit and lime juices. Grapefruit is a great juice to use with gin (in fact, not only are the flavors very complimentary, but many gins use some form of grapefruit to impart one of those citrus flavors that make gin so special!)

Add in a bit of fresh lime that pairs well with both mezcal and gin (ever hear of the Gimlet?) and you have a whole bunch of flavors that make great playmates. One of the real secrets of tiki is layering in lots of flavors, and this combination of sweet tart grapefruit and lime brings for a rich layered citrus flavor that totally makes that famous Tiki flavor.

We need a little sweetness to bring everything into balance, so we add a little cinnamon syrup and orgeat. The rich warmth of the cinnamon syrup adds just the right amount of sweet and spice to balance out the tartness of the fresh squeezed juice and the bitterness of the allspice dram. We wanted to kick up the tropical flavor, which is where the orgeat comes in.

The toasted nutty sweetness of the orgeat adds a real mellow tropical note to the Rambler’s Ruby, plus adds a little silky smooth richness. A few dashes of Angostura Bitters and a dash of Scrappys Orleans Bitters rounds out the cocktail with a little more of that warm baking spice and complexity!

Full of delicious layers of flavors, sweet, smokey and spicy, full of fruit and a crispness from the gin, the Rambler’s Ruby might just inspire you to take up a journey of your own into the world of Tiki! Cheers!

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You really take your cocktails seriously!!! I’ve never heard of orgeat before but now that I’ve looked it up, clearly I’m going to have to get some. My parents live in Key Largo — and they have a chickee hut on their property — I think we’ll be sipping this under the thatched roof very soon!

You’re basically three for three for me! Gin, mezcal and grapefruit juice are some of my favourite cocktail ingredients! I love the tiki glasses, sure would be fun to throw a theme party with this cocktail in glasses like that!

These glasses are SO fun! And what a great idea mixing the gin and mezcal – two of my husband’s favorites! He’ll definitely love this one, I can’t wait to try it when it’s freezing out and pretend that we have our toes in the sand somewhere!

These tiki mugs are so fun! I don’t think I’ve ever had orgeat syrup before, and now I need to have some in my cocktail making collection. I think this Rambler’s Ruby is exactly what I need to pretend that this cold winter weather is over. 🙂

What a fabulous drink and so stunningly presented. One of these would have me longing for a tropical destination. I do like a good dash of Angostura Bitters – it always adds another interesting dimension.